• Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Opioids Question about Lortab 5/500 and Fiorinal 3

ewells1014

Greenlighter
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
1
New member here, and I am so sorry if this post is miscategorized! I just have a question about the two drugs in the title. Long story short, I had a tooth pulled and my dentist prescribed Lortab 5/500. One didn't do squat, so I took 1.5 and ultimately 2. I was starting to get a tiny bit of relief, but I don't like taking that much Tylenol. The same thing happened after the birth of my third child when my dr. gave me Darvocet. Anyway, my dentist called in a prescription for me for a drug called Fiorinal 3 with codeine. I know absolutely nothing about this med but I tried it anyway because on top of the pain, I had also gotten an infection in the socket. This drug did **nothing** for me. I was going to take another one, but I'm sort of a chicken when I comes to stuff like that, lol. My questions are a) has anyone ever heard of a case where narcotics just don't work for people; and b) is it safe to take more than one Fiorinal 3? I don't have much experience with narcotics really. THe only two I've ever taken that did anything for me were morphine (after a surgery I had years ago), and Stadol (my dr. gave me a small dose of it in my epidural when my first son was born). Holy crap--Stadol is some goooood stuff. Does anyone know why some narcotic would work and others wouldn't?
 
Lortab is a pretty standard drug for opiate naive people; it just sounds like you either have a natural tolerance or you're in too much pain where the Lortab isn't working. Good job on watching the dose of tylenol you take. You could always do a cold water extraction and get rid of the tylenol.

And in Lortab doesn't work, I don't know why your dentist gave your Fiorinal. It's weaker than Lortab, as it only has 30 mg of codeine in it. Also, there's aspirin in it so watch out on how much you take.

And some narcotics work and some don't simply because of strength. Morphine (IV'ed in the hospital) is amazing, and is considered the "gold standard" to which all other opiates are compared to. Dunno much about Stadol in all honesty, and Darvocet is no longer on the market b/c it was shown to cause heart problems

Maybe you should look into potentiation of your drugs. Take 25 mg Benadryl (OTC), 200 mg cimetidine (also an OTC drug), and a glass of grapefruit juice about 45 minutes before you take your pills and you should notice a nice boost in the buzz!
 
Firoinal w/ Codeine is a mixture of aspirin, caffeine, codeine, and butalbital. Codeine is an opiate. Butalbital is a barbiturate. Barbiturates are very dangerous, and should be used with extreme caution, and only by those who are aware of the risks they carry. Despite the fact that they do make a combination of an opiate and a barbiturate, combining any CNS depressant with a barbiturate is just a BAD idea. What I would suggest for you is to save the Fiorinal w/ Codeine for headaches or muscle tension or anxiety or insomnia or whatever, and take 2 Lortab at a time with 400-600 mg ibuprofen. That will likely do the trick. I would wait a while, though if you have taken the Fiorinal w/ Codeine because butalbital lingers in the system for longer than can be felt.
 
Totally agree, and taking 4-5 lortabs for a short period of time will not hurt you. Every hospital gives you Tylenol at like 600mg for pain. Just don't make a habit of it. But for the short term I would enjoy the lortabs and keep the Firoinal for other occasions.
 
Yes, There's a Medical Reason Some Narcotics Don't Work on Some People

New member here, and I am so sorry if this post is miscategorized! I just have a question about the two drugs in the title. Long story short, I had a tooth pulled and my dentist prescribed Lortab 5/500. One didn't do squat, so I took 1.5 and ultimately 2. I was starting to get a tiny bit of relief, but I don't like taking that much Tylenol. The same thing happened after the birth of my third child when my dr. gave me Darvocet. Anyway, my dentist called in a prescription for me for a drug called Fiorinal 3 with codeine. I know absolutely nothing about this med but I tried it anyway because on top of the pain, I had also gotten an infection in the socket. This drug did **nothing** for me. I was going to take another one, but I'm sort of a chicken when I comes to stuff like that, lol. My questions are a) has anyone ever heard of a case where narcotics just don't work for people; and b) is it safe to take more than one Fiorinal 3? I don't have much experience with narcotics really. THe only two I've ever taken that did anything for me were morphine (after a surgery I had years ago), and Stadol (my dr. gave me a small dose of it in my epidural when my first son was born). Holy crap--Stadol is some goooood stuff. Does anyone know why some narcotic would work and others wouldn't?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCUSE TYPOS - VERY SLEEPY TODAY!

There are several reasons for certain narcotics not working on certain people, or in certain cases but it's very complex. I will try to explain a little bit of it to give you an idea.

Narcotics are processed, metabolized by the P450 class of enzymes, broken down into categories of different CYP enzymes, each with different names, acting on different medications. While the enzymes CYP2C9 and 2C19 are assigned to break down NSAIDS like Advil, and 2E1 breaks down Tylenol, most opiates (the ones that are classified as "prodrugs") are metabolized by the liver's CYP2D6 enzyme. Some people are born with genetic anomalies, such as an extra allele producing a higher than normal amount of this "drug eating" enzyme, dramatically affecting the usefulness of the drug. In other people with genetic 2D6 anomalies, they don't produce any, or they produce TONS of the "drug eating" enzyme. Each different situation will make the drug work differently. It's better explained in lay terms in this chart:

http://youscript.com/healthcare-professionals/why-youscript/genetic-variations-and-drug-metabolism/

Barbiturate drugs and prodrugs are metabolized by the CYP3A4 enzyme. If a patient doesn't have normally functioning 3A4 enzymes, then the effects of that class of drugs will be different with them.

The relationship of these enzymes to these drugs are extremely important and can even be deadly if a doctor doesn't do what he is SUPPOSED to do and practice medicine - diagnose his patient's unique ability to respond to and metabolize certain medications! More than 99% of doctors don't mess with the science of finding out, and just lump all patients together, assuming that all patients react the exact same way to narcotics, that what works for one will work for another, never considering the very real and extremely important reality that failing to diagnose and prescribe accordingly can and HAS LED TO DEATHS in breastfeeding infants whose mothers were Ultra Rapid Metabolizers and had not been tested or diagnosed.

What's even more complicated is that certain other medications can either inhibit or potentiate the production of certain enzymes. That's why we hear about one drug making another work better, or one drug making another work worse. That is because the "side" drug is screwing with the level of the enzyme responsible for managing the "good" drug. Prozac and make your body make MORE of the enzyme that eats up your opiate "good" drug, so taking them together can lead to a lesser effect or shortened effect. Prilosec can inhibit some enzymes responsible for breaking down certain barbituates, so taking them together can sometimes make your pain med work better, stronger, and longer - which is NOT always a good thing, guys.

Pain management involves a very delicate, very specific balance in the body and NO TWO PEOPLE ARE THE SAME. Drugs affect everyone differently, many times through no fault of their own. They are NOT, or did not start out as, addicted or abusing, they are just naturally tolerant because their bodies produce too much enzyme and their doctors didn't bother finding out the proper way to treat them, which often LEADS to drug abuse and addiction. Or the patients don't metabolize a narcotic/prodrug drug properly to allow it to work at normal therapeutic levels. Etc. There are many reasons why blanket diagnoses and dosages DO NOT APPLY or are INEFFECTIVE. This is why PHARMACO-GENETIC testing and understanding by doctors is sooooooooooooo incredibly important. Otherwise, patients, or patients' nursing babies could die. Children can lose parents to overdose or addiction, spouses can lose their partners, employers can lose workers, and innocent drivers can be killed on highways and streets - all due to improper prescribing of narcotics to patients who are genetically unable to process those medicines correctly, but whose doctors never bothered to check.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER consent to a certain program of drug treatment therapy without INSISTING that your doctor customize your treatment plan according TO YOUR UNIQUE BODY and how your body processes toxic pharmaceuticals, which can ONLY be proven with blood testing for genetic and enzymatic markers.

More info:

http://youscript.com/healthcare-pro...netic-testing/cytochrome-p450-2d6-genotyping/

http://youscript.com/healthcare-professionals/why-youscript/dosing-recommendations/

http://www.clinchem.org/content/44/5/914.full

http://www.questdiagnostics.com/testcenter/testguide.action?dc=TS_PainMgmt
 
Last edited:
Top